Board of Trustee Candidate Summary

BS Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, 2002
MBA Healthcare Administration, Strayer University, 2016
ASET – ABRET Leadership Academy (enrolled January 2022)

Senior Clinical Neurophysiology Technologist, IntraOp Solutions May 2021 to present
Senior Clinical Neurophysiology Technologist, Surgimon, August 2021 to present
Clinical Team Manager and Senior Neurophysiologist, Nuvasive Clinical Services, May 2016 to April 2021
Clinical Neurophysiology Technologist, Surgimon, November 2014 to May 2016
Lead Neurophysiology Technologist, UPMC Procirca, May 2004 to July 2013

Years of experience as a team leader and senior clinical neurophysiology specialist in over 14 states.

• Virtual journal club host for the Great Lakes region of a major neuromonitoring company
• Provider of peer review services for The Neurodiagnostic Journal manuscript submissions
• Guest Appearance on the BDHA Podcast as a representative of the neurodiagnostic community during Neurodiagnostic Week April 2021
• Writing and publication about the neuromonitoring industry, including:
  
  • On Point: Technical Tips for an Effective and Informative Patient Interview Experience – ASET newsletter, April 29, 2021
  • Stepping Up: A Great Example of Effective Field Leadership in Neuromonitoring – LinkedIn, May 22, 2020
  • After the Lockdown: Doing the Right Thing Today for Your Neuromonitoring Career Tomorrow – LinkedIn, April 21, 2020
  • A Valentine for the Neuromonitoring Community – LinkedIn, February 14, 2020
  • In the Literature: Utilization of MEPs During Posterior Lumbar Procedures to Diagnose and Avoid ‘Foot Drop’ Dorsiflexion Injuries – The ASNM Monitor Blog, Nov 2019
  • Additional literature reviews and leadership articles
• Research Committee member for the ASNM professional society

ASET

1. Why do you want to serve as a trustee?
   

   The neurodiagnostic community makes a significant contribution to healthcare. Every year during Neurodiagnostic Week, I love reading and hearing about our contributions as neurodiagnostic professionals. We are partners with our healthcare colleagues. We teach and learn from one another. Above all, we provide vital and insightful information to doctors and their patients. These valuable services contribute to improved patient quality of life, and that is truly our reason for being.

   ASET serves as our voice and our common identity as we go about this mission. As a Trustee for ASET, I can leverage the depth and diversity of my experience across a broad range of neuromonitoring programs, neurodiagnostic departments and healthcare systems to steward the society’s vital mission.

2. How would you define your role as trustee?
   “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader” -John Quincy Adams. The 6th president of the United States of America captured the essence of leadership in this statement. Being a Trustee for ASET is about doing the important work of steering our profession into a post-pandemic era. Just as important, a Trustee needs to engage the participation of neurodiagnostic professionals in ASET’s important initiatives. A trustee needs to encourage their colleagues to dream more about professional growth and opportunities, to engage in committees and task forces which will increase their colleagues’ competencies and – above all – to grow professionally. We do this together, maintaining a continuous professional dialog with the rest of the medical community, engaging the scientific literature head-on, and making a positive impact on patient care.
3. How would you define the role of the Board of Trustees?
   The Power of the One. ASET’s Board of Trustees do not operate independent of the neurodiagnostic community, and they certainly need to work as a team. The board is staffed by hardworking professionals whose time is very valuable; we need to be respectful of that time when sharing duties and work efficiently to meet our challenges. As a team, the Board of Trustees need to identify key trends in the neurodiagnostic field. With these trends in mind, we will lay the groundwork for our colleagues’ success by ensuring they are equipped and trained to ride the wave of healthcare change, rather than get pushed under by it. We will encourage participation in task forces and project groups. Leadership calls us to recognize talent in the ranks of neurodiagnostic professionals and give these standouts the opportunity to make a difference in our field. With dignity and respect for one another, we can harness passion for patient care and uphold best practices in our field.
4. Describe any experience or skills you have gained in a leadership role with other organizations that you think will assist you as an ASET board member?
   I have been a people and skill leader in the field of neuromonitoring for many of my 17 years of experience since achieving my CNIM. In addition to peer education, team leadership and business development successes, I am proud to be an advocate for awareness and investment in neurodiagnostic programs. I headed up the first-ever regional journal club for one of the largest neuromonitoring programs in the country. I have published multiple articles on leadership and best practices in the neuromonitoring community and have participated in professional society research and education committees for a number of years. I have both participated in peer review of professional journal articles and submitted a manuscript.
5. What qualities do you have that would make you a good trustee?
   I bring a unique and informed perspective of the neurodiagnostic profession at a time of great change. In over 17 years of practice, I have worked in over 14 states, with dozens of hospitals in multiple healthcare systems. In this time, I have supported more surgeons and worked along more surgical teams than I can easily count. You learn a lot about best (and worst!) practices from this level of exposure. I feel it my responsibility as a professional to share my experiences with the medical community to create awareness and interest in neurodiagnostics, particularly how its services can best be integrated into the patient care workflow.
6. What are your goals for ASET if elected?
   My goals with ASET will be to promote awareness and integration of neurodiagnostic services in healthcare by equipping our colleagues to be effective ambassadors for our profession. To meet this objective, I will:
   • Promote the passion. Identify and encourage talent and interest in our society’s members. Everyone benefits when our colleagues are motivated to participate in ASET’s continued mission. Let’s get people involved! There are so many opportunities to do so.
   • Let’s get excited about the literature. we are scientists in addition to being patient care providers. Being informed of the current trend in scientific literature as it applies to neuromonitoring, EEG and EMG is crucial to developing best practices. Also, when informed by the literature, we can be good ambassadors of our profession to surgeons, doctors, and our healthcare colleagues in hospitals around the nation.
   • Be a member of the Team. As a Trustee, I won’t be working in a vacuum. I will be a member of a team of ND professionals with great ideas, who put forth real effort to make a difference. Supporting and promoting good ideas of others, matching the effort and enthusiasm of other board members, and valuing colleagues’ time and opinions; these are some of the requisites for being an effective leader in our professional society.
   
   
7. What, specifically, are the changes taking place in the profession that ASET should be attentive to and what role can/should the Society take?
   

   Our focus in one word should be identity. The neurodiagnostic community will need to establish its identity in a post-COVID healthcare market that has affected patient care practices, patient volume and procedure prioritization. Change has come fast for the healthcare arena over the past ten years. We continue to retool from an acute care to chronic condition management system, while legal reforms to reimbursement models have affected practices from nationwide organizations to the smallest sole proprietorships. Meanwhile, COVID management practices have affected elective procedure capacity, which particularly affected our colleagues in surgical neuromonitoring.

   We need the patient population and our allies in hospitals to know who we are. This involves asking some difficult questions. What do we call a CNIM-certified professional? How can we achieve an effective footprint in the patient care workflow? For example, I would love knowing that every patient in a pre-operative clinic day is informed that surgical neuromonitoring will be a part of their procedure, and the patient will know what that means and feel encouraged that the surgeon is doing the most for their surgical outcome.

   Establishing our identify and footprint in healthcare is a process. It involves a continued conversation with hospitals, doctors and – above all – our patients.